Shape-maintenance cap

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a shape-maintenance cap which has features in that the exterior of a cap transformed by an external impact can be recovered to its original shape. The present invention comprises a body part of a cap formed of at least one molded sheet and a brim part which is attached to a front side of the body part, by which it is possible to maintain the shape of a cap without using a shape-maintenance member like a wire or something.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a shape-maintenance cap which canmaintain a shape of a body part of a cap, and in particular to ashape-maintenance cap which makes it possible to continuously maintainthe exterior of a crown which used to be easily transformed.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally speaking, a cap represents a baseball type cap and comprises acrown part corresponding to a body part of a cap made with a pluralityof panels, a brim part which is attached to a front lower side of acrown part, a headband which is attached to a lower surrounding portionof an inner portion of a crown part, and a size adjusting part which isprovided at a back lower side of a crown part and has a cap sizeadjusting function depending on the size of a user's head. A user wearsa cap so as to protect his face from a sunshine in an outdoor space. Inrecent years, many people regard caps as fashion items so as to expresstheir fashions in daily lives in all ages.

However, the conventional cap has a problem in that when a user carriesa cap in a hand or a certain impact is applied to an outer side of acap, a crown part covering the top of a user's head easily sinks, as aresult of which the whole portions of the crown part of a cap fails tokeep its original shape, which makes the cap look bad. The user whoregards the cap as part of his fashion urgently needs a new cap whichcan maintain an original shape of a crown part.

In order to improve the above mentioned problems, a new cap isdeveloped, in which a shape-maintenance member is added to an inner sideof the crown part or a wire is inserted into between the panels whichform the crown part.

In case that a shape-maintenance member is provided in the crown part, auser may feel an increased load in a head and a neck because theshape-maintenance member is further added, and it takes a longer time tomanufacture such caps along with complicated manufacture processes.

In case that a wire is inserted into between the panels, the insertedwire may protrude out of the panels, which increases dangers.

As another improvement, a new cap is developed, the shape of which canbe maintained in an original form with the aid of a press molding whichuses a foamed sponge. However, the above mentioned cap has problems inthat the exterior may look bad because of the increased thickness of thesponge, and it is impossible to satisfy the user who regards the cap aspart of the fashion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide ashape-maintenance cap which improves the problems encountered in theconventional art.

It is another object of the present invention to provide ashape-maintenance cap which makes it possible to recover the exterior ofa cap which is transformed by an external impact to its original shape.

It is further another object of the present invention to provide ashape-maintenance cap which can enhance the esthetic sense of a capwhich is made with a foamed sponge without manufacturing a cap in athicker form.

To achieve the above objects, there is provided a shape-maintenance capcomprising a molded sheet 10 formed in such a way that a TPU (ThermoPlastic Polyurethane) film is disclosed between an upper fabric 11 and alower fabric 13; a body part of a cap formed of at least one moldedsheet 10; and a brim part 20 which is attached to a front lower portionof the body part.

The shape-maintenance cap according to the present invention hasadvantages in that a user's head and neck feel lighter when wearing thecap thanks to the decreased weight of the cap since a wire or ashape-maintenance member is not used in the present invention.

In addition, the shape-maintenance cap according to the presentinvention makes it possible to enhance an esthetic sense of a cap thanksto a shape-maintenance function by which the transformed cap can berecovered to its original shape even when an external impact is appliedbecause the cap is made from a material which is thin like an EVA or asponge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become better understood with reference tothe accompanying drawings which are given only by way of illustrationand thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a shape-maintenance capaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plane view illustrating a shape-maintenance cap according toa preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cut-away cross sectional view illustrating a molded sheetaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plane view illustrating a shape-maintenance cap according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The shape-maintenance cap according to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the shape-maintenance cap according tothe present invention comprises a body part of a cap made with at leastone molded sheet 10, and a brim part 20 which is attached to a frontportion of the body part. Since the molded sheet 10 belongs to the wholeportions or part of the body part which is placed on the head of a user,the molded sheet 10 can be formed depending on the shape of the user'shead. The above mentioned formation can be part or the whole portions ofthe semicircular configuration, one side of which is open, depending onthe shape of the user's head.

As shown in FIG. 3, the molded sheet 10 belonging to the body part ofthe cap is formed as an upper fabric 11, a TPU (Thermo PlasticPolyurethane) film 12 and a lower fabric 13 are adhered together andmolded. Here, the TPU has a high elastic force and a good anti-abrasionperformance with respect to an external impact. Since it has a lowbrittleness temperature, the product made from the same can be usedunder an extreme temperature environment. It also has a good oilresistance and a good elongation thanks to an increased elastic force ascompared to other materials. According to the known data, the TPU hasabove 600% elongation and can be molded in various methods. The moldedsheet 10 is formed of an upper fabric 11 positioned at the upper side, aTPU film 12 positioned at an intermediate portion, and a lower fabric 13positioned at the lower side. It is preferred that the upper fabric 11is made from a flexible woven fabric.

The polyurethane (PU) may be used instead of the woven fabric. It ispreferred that the lower fabric is formed of a flexible woven fabric;however it can be formed of a knitted fabric. In the molded sheet 1 witha certain pattern, the pattern determined depending on the shape of theuser's head and the sheet are previously made using a mold, and the heatfrom a heat is supplied to the sheet, and the mold is placed on thesheet to which heat is supplied, and they are compressed by a pressmachine, so a molded sheet 10 with a desired pattern and a certain sizecan be manufactured.

The procedure that the above described molded sheet is manufactured willbe described as follows.

The upper fabric 11, the TPU film 12 and the lower fabric 13 aresequentially adhered together, and heat of 100-150° C. is supplied for 3minutes to them so as to make the TPU film 12 transformable, and thematerials are compressed using the mold with a pattern. When the mold isremoved, the upper fabric 11, the lower fabric 13 and the molten TPUfilm 12 harden for thereby forming a desired pattern.

As best seen in FIG. 4, the molded sheet 10 with the pattern can belongto part or the whole portions of the body part of the cap.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, itshould also be understood that the above-described examples are notlimited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unlessotherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within itsspirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore allchanges and modifications that fall within the meets and bounds of theclaims, or equivalences of such meets and bounds are therefore intendedto be embraced by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A shape-maintenance cap, comprising: a body partof a cap which is formed of at least one molded sheet; and a brim partwhich is attached to a front lower side of the body part of the cap, themolded sheet comprising: an upper fabric; a TPU film (Thermo PlasticPolyurethane) film; and a lower fabric, and the molded sheet is moldedas heat is supplied hereto, so the shape of a crown of the cap can bemaintained even when an external impact is supplied thereto.